Looking through the ice
by Wolfie-V
Summary: When a mysterious wall made from some sort of unbreakable ice appears, of course Finn and Jake are going to find out whats going on because, lets face it, this might actually be the Ice King's first PROPER evil plan. If you hate ships, do not read (there is a decent amount of fluff in this fanfiction). NB I do not own, or ever have owned Adventure Time.
1. Chapter 1 - Prologue

Looking through the ice

It was time. The coming of age. And this was the key.

At least, that was what the wizard had said. When the king of an icy empire went on his latest shopping spree, he had brought the box. The box of wonder, the box of dreams, the box of the future. Sure, the seller had warned against its use, for fear of mistreatment, but it wasn't like THIS king would EVER mistreat ANYTHING, was it? Sure, the seller said to only open in a place of love, a place of solitude, and to only open it in the presence of a demonic wishing eye.

So, he had the wishing eye. He had the box. The only thing he hadn't nailed yet was the place of love. He had been to Bubblegum's bedroom alone to try and use it, but Bubblegum had come in with Finn before he opened the box. Of course, he was threatened and kicked, so he left soon. He had been to his own room, but that just didn't feel right – after all, although he loved the ice, he didn't LOVE love the ice.

So he was brought to here. His most private of private sanctums. He was the only who had ever been here. Not even Gunter had been in here. And no-one would go in. After all, it WAS in his penguin's private room (which, he thought, made it doubly private!). He entered – apprehensive – would it work? What would happen if it didn't? What if someone saw? He looked around at the sleeping penguins – they wouldn't even know what happened. To be on the safe side, however, he froze the penguins where they slept.

He went up to the wall at the far side of the room – it was blank, and blank for a purpose. The penguin ice sculpture decorations lined the floor – to avert suspicion, he supposed – and went slyly up to the one on the far left. It was an exact replica of Gunter – his chief penguin and general emotional sponge. Going to press the eye of the stature, he sharply turned around – was anyone there, or was he being paranoid? Sure he was alone now, he shot the statue with a bolt of ice – eager now to finish what he started. The statue shattered into a million ice shards, and the king pressed the secret button below it. The wall shone, and the ice melted, to reveal a secret room. Blinding light shone from within the room, shone from a secret power source. The king patted a square-ish bulge in his tunic, and ran into the room.

The ice began to build up behind the kind, and after a few seconds' work, he had sealed the entrance behind him.

He was completely alone now – no-one could disturb him.

He was so close.


	2. Chapter 2 - Discovery

If you take a walk through the grasslands about this time of year, you are very likely to see two familiar figures. A dog was sprinting after a reported thief, along with his human friend who was running close behind. He was dressed in a bear skin hat, had a blue shirt with dark blue shorts and carried a green-styled backpack. The evil doer looked back – it was clear that he was a goblin, despite the elaborate face mask he wore, posing him as a (possible) candy person.

"Give it up, goblin!" the human yelled, brandishing his golden sword.

"Never!" yelled the goblin in reply. "You'll never catch me, puny boy!"

However, being turned around, he didn't see the huge ice wall looming ahead and he smacked right into it. Shortly after this, the dog caught up, and, having done so, tested for a pulse.

"He's out cold, Finn, but I can feel a pulse."

The boy, who the dog was addressing, ran up.

"Good job, Jake! Hey, does he have the stolen keys?"

"Sure does." said Jake. "Hey, and a bunch of other stuff as well!"

Jake shrank down to pencil height and dived into the goblin's pack. Seconds later, pile after pile of candy items were thrown out. Then, Jake jumped out, growing back to normal height.

"Dude, I found Bubblegum's keys! I knew he had them!"

"Great! Now we can go to the candy kingdom…"

"Uh, Finn?"

"…and go straight into Bubblegum's castle…"

"Finn!"

"…and we'll say 'Hey Bubblegum, guess what we found-"

"FINN!"

Jake, on the point of yelling now, made his point fully known. Finn finally looked up.

"Yes, buddy, what is it- oh. Whoa."

On looking at Jake to find out what was the matter, Finn could immediately see the distress in his adopted brother's eyes. Following his gaze, Finn suddenly found out what was wrong. In the hurry to find out what the goblin thief had stolen, Finn and Jake had disregarded the simple thing that had knocked the goblin unconscious. A huge wall of ice had sprung up seemingly overnight. It was so tall they couldn't even see the top, and it made the ice kingdom beyond look blurred and distorted, and must have been metres thick. Finn struggled to think of why it was there – was it keeping something out of the Ice Kings domain, or…keeping something IN?

As the guys were staring at the wall, puzzled, a distinguished voice politely shouted "Master Finn, Master Jake!" The boys recognised the voice straight away as Princess Bubblegum's faithful butler, Peppermint. Once he reached them, he gave his message.

"Finn, Jake, the Princess requires an immediate audience with you. It's about the ice wall…but I see you two boys have found that out for yourselves. Follow me, gentlemen."

Ten minutes later, the royal candy court was assembled in the main hall. Finn and Jake were already seated, along with the other important candy folk. A door at the back of the room opened, and a lady with pink skin entered the hall. She looked flustered, and her usually immaculate hair seemed slightly ruffled and out of place. She looked tired, and her bouncy pink skin sagged slightly under her eyes from tiredness. Although she usually wore a long dark-ish pink dress, today she wore a long white lab coat; it was covered in various stains and splashes from previous experiments. She rushed in, papers from calculations and speeches flying around the room. They reminded Finn of little ghosts. As the princess was seated, Finn was reminded of the time he…had feelings for her. But this was not the time for dwelling on the past.

"People of the Candy Kingdom" Princess Bubblegum began, "As of last night, we received reports of a large ice wall surrounding the Ice Kingdom. Witness reports also state that, although not much can be seen through the ice, penguins have been seen in numerous masses near the edge of the ice on the other side. Now, as my calculations suggest…"

The princess took a folded piece of paper out of her pocket, while turning around to turn on the holo- computer. A green display shot up, figures and numbers swirling around. Finn looked up blankly at the screen.

"…the ice wall is not just extremely tall in height, but it seems that the diameter of the ice wall is equally proportionate to the lateral size and shape of a regular polynumbera-"

"Um, Princess?" interrupted Finn "All that math is nice and all, but…I have really no idea what you are saying!"

"Oh…right." The princess put her paper away, but kept the screen up. "What I am saying is that the wall isn't a…straight line. Rather, it's a bowl, but I can't calculate how high it goes. This goes deeper than just some barrier, Finn. I can sense other disturbances from within the bowl. Whatever the Ice King is doing in there, it isn't good."

"Oh. So…you want us to kick some icy butt?"

Jake, who had fallen asleep almost as soon as the conference had started, started to snore gently.

"No, Finn, I want you and Jake to…Jake! Wake up, silly puppy!"

Jake suddenly woke up, and slammed his hands on the table.

"Yes, Lady, I'll do whatever you want! Just don't do that! Oh…" said Jake, as he calmed down and realised where he was. He went bright red and sank into his chair, muttering "Oh, glob…"

With a glance at Jake, the Princess continued. "As I was saying, I want you and Jake to measure the distance around the bowl, so I can find out how high it goes and-"

"Sorry PB, I've got a hot date with Lady that I can't miss. Also I need to see how my pupsters are doing." said Jake, looking at the floor, realising that wasn't the first time he had embarrassed himself that day.

"Oh, er…ok Finn, would you be-"

"Me too, Princess. I'm meeting Flame Princess after this meeting, and, well, it's going ok, so…"

At the mention of the Flame Princess, Bubblegum started to turn an intense shade of dark pink. A cloud of anger crossed her face and her usually happy face bended into a ferocious scowl.

"Ok, well, I see, you have OTHER arrangements. It's fine, really, you go."

Quickly, the princess left the hall, taking her papers with her. Peppermint Butler hurried after her, murmuring words to calm her down. The other candy people, confused at the way the conference ended, bustled out of the hall, talking at top volume. Now, Finn and Jake were the only ones left. Finn was staring down at the candy table, fiddling with his fingers nervously. Jake, seeing the concern on his face, stretched over the table and seated himself next to Finn.

"Finn, it's ok. Um…she'll be fine, just go on with your relationship with FP. Erm…yeah. You know I'm no good with mushy stuff."

Finn looked up, and smiled at Jake.

"Buddy, you always know what to say."

Elsewhere in Ooo, a frozen king was in his secret chamber of light. He was knelt in front of two large statues, one of which was slightly larger than the other. The area in front of the statues was carved out of a giant ice cube in the shape of an altar. The king knelt back a bit, revealing a velvet cloth covering a rectangular shaped box. He patted the box lovingly, and stroked the side with his other hand. "Not long now, my baby, soon you and I will be together at last."


	3. Chapter 3 - Misgivings

Up in the tree house, Jake was preparing for his date. He retrieved his blue backpack from the corner, and packed everything he would need for a night with Lady. He hesitated over packing milk bottles – he wasn't sure if his puppies needed it anymore – and, deciding better of it, left the bottles in the drawer. Picking up the photo of his family, Jake sighed. It had been so long…

Jake was reminded of the first night he spent with the puppies. He had spent most of the night awake as he watched over his sleeping pups, on high alert for any sign of danger. He chuckled as he thought of his mum's tape, and the way he panicked when he thought the pups had stopped breathing.

As Jake was reminiscing about his family, Finn walked in, looking forlorn. He sighed deeply and flopped onto the bed with a thump.

"Hey, buddy, what's wrong? You look down." said Jake, jerked back to reality from his pleasant daydream.

"Yeah, I'm good." Finn sighed, but it was clear from his expression that he was lying through his missing teeth.

"Ok, buddy" Jake said, getting up and going over to the bed. He sat next to Finn, and looked right into his face. "I have…um…" Jake turned around, and pulled out a chocolate cookie from somewhere unknown. "Here. It might make you feel better."

Finn took the cookie, and scoffed the whole thing in one go.

"Well," Finn said, swallowing the cookie, "It's…er…"

"Yessss?" Jake said, encouraging Finn to continue.

"It's…girls. I know deep down I love Flame Princess, but…well…I kinda like Bubblegum as well. I just…grah…I just don't know Jake, what do I do?" Finn flopped onto his side, and sighed again.

"Bro. Seriously? I thought you were finished with Bubblegum." Jake said.

"Yeah. Me too. Except…"

"Lemme guess. She makes you feel bad about it every time she sees you." finished Jake, perfectly putting words into Finn's mouth. "I know how you feel bro."

Finn looked up, hope glinting in his bright blue eyes. "You do?"

"Nah, Lady's the only one for me. But I can understand what you're going through. Only, dude," Jake moved closer to Finn and put his arm around him. "You need to let go of Bubblegum. Not trying to be mean or anything, but you know that Bubblegum only does this to get a reaction from you. Don't let her have the satisfaction."

Finn slowly picked himself up off the bed, and blew his cheeks out.

"Ok, dude. I've got to let go, your right. In fact, I'll go and meet Flame Princess right now!"

Having said so, Finn leapt up and ran out of the door, while Jake yelled after him "Yeah, go Finn!" and waving his arms about.

Flame Princess was already waiting outside her house when Finn arrived. She smiled a huge smile and waved at him from a distance, sparks flying from her dress and hair. The sparks landed in the surrounding grass and flecks of fire began to flare. Her fire grew bigger and brighter as Finn ran up to her and just as Finn reached her and the bodies connected there was a loud bang and all of Ooo was temporarily blinded.

As the couple separated, the dangers of this relationship showed. Patches of damp wetted the girl's face, and the arms of the fire elemental had gone out. This was obviously causing the girl pain, as teardrops of molten lava were falling from her eyes. Finn, however, had clearly come off worse. His blue shirt was ripped and burned, and smoke was still coming off of the tattered remains. Most of his shirt was ashes on the grass, and he was covered in burns. His arms were red and raw, and skin was starting to peel from around his face. Despite this pain, the two were obviously in love. Through the tears of pain, Finn was staring at his girlfriend and couldn't help but smile. At this time, Finn wondered how in Ooo he could have possibly felt anything for Bubblegum – after all, all that mattered now was him and his girlfriend.

After their passionate embrace, the two of them just gazed into each other's eyes for a while, before Flame Princess said "You know, Finn, I've been around for 14 years now, and I still have never tasted an ice cream. What is it?"

Finn laughed, and said "Well, it's kind of sweet and…cream. It's frozen and very cold. It might be a bit dangerous."

Flame Princess smiled, and said "Mmm, isn't this relationship dangerous? I reckon I can handle a bit more danger."

She laughed, and turned into a streak of fire, shooting off into the distance. She re-appeared on the horizon, and shouted as loud as she could "Come on, Finn! Can't catch me!" She laughed again, and it echoed around the hills. In reply, Finn laughed and ran after Flame Princess.

A little while later, Finn and Flame Princess were sitting on the grass by the ice wall. Finn was licking his ice cream and it was smeared around his lips, while Flame Princess was attempting to eat hers. Every time she took a lick, she muttered an exclamation of pain as her tongue went out for a second. As Finn crunched the cone of his ice cream, he looked to his girlfriend. She had managed (just) to eat hers, and they gazed into each other's eyes once more. Flame Princess giggled and said "Finn, you have ice cream around your lips!" Finn put a finger to his lips, and looked at the creamy residue left behind.

"Huh. So I do. What should I do about it?"

Flame Princess smiled again, and put a fiery finger up to his chin. She pressed lightly, so as not to leave a burn but so he could feel her warmth. This brought her torso closer to him, and her face was so close. She whispered "Shall I clean it off for you?" Finn smiled in return, and whispered,

"I'd like that."

Finn closed his eyes, and leaned in. Flame Princess also did the same, and as they touched, Finn felt the wonderful electricity of the kiss. Warmth began to spread around his face and, even when he felt the extreme sensation of burning he did not pull away – it was too good. Suddenly Flame princess pulled away and shouted "FINN!" It was only when she had removed her lips that he felt the immense pain and his lips starting to blister. He pressed his hand to his face and felt the skin creasing and bulging. He yelped in pain, and looked at Flame Princess. Her face was damp again, and from the horror on her face he could tell that she had felt it before him.

"Ok Finn, no more kissing. Not tonight, anyway."

"Yeah, I suppose you're right." Finn said through puffy lips. Awkwardly, they turned away and stared through the ice at the starry sky. The stars blurred through the ice, and the edges of the light merged with the sky. This meant that the other side of the ice was darker and nothing could be seen through the ice. Suddenly, Finn stood up and went over to the wall. As Flame Princess looked on, Finn began to attack the wall. Sword in hand, he slashed and struck the wall. He punched and kicked the wall, he slammed into the wall and even tried to throw stuff from his backpack at it in the hope of weakening it.

"Finn! What the flop are you doing?" she asked, concerned now for his sanity. After all, he was yelling at an inanimate object. Hearing her voice, Finn paused for breath, and was dismayed to see that not even a scratch was upon the wall. He turned around, and looked straight at her face.

"Oh, it's nothing. Just doing a favour for Princess Bubblegum."

Flame Princess raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms, and Finn realized his mistake. Ever since Bubblegum ordered the imprisonment of his fiery girlfriend, the two women had brewed feelings of hatred and anger for each other. Finn's jaw dropped, and he turned slowly red. Then, to his surprise, Flame Princess laughed and ran over. Still laughing, she lightly shoved him to the floor, and a look of panic crossed her face as she fell over onto the grass next to him. Flame Princess looked at Finn and it went silent for a moment. Then suddenly they both burst into a fit of giggles, and were unable to control their breathing for a few minutes. Eventually the hysteria passed, and the two of them were calm once more.

"Finn, why are you still listening to that nerd? I thought you were over her."

Finn felt a pang of anger at his girlfriend for calling Bubblegum a nerd, but straight away Jake's voice came floating into his brain – 'You've got to move on, Finn'. This calmed Finn down, and, since this mental debate only took a second, he had time to put on his 'I'm-thinking-really-hard' face before Flame Princess got suspicious.

"Um, I guess I need her a little. After all, the whole of Ooo counts on me, and let's be honest; I don't have the hugest brain ever!"

Flame Princess giggled. She then looked confused for a second, and then asked "Finn? What's on the other side of the ice wall?"

Finn replied, "Well, this is the border of the Ice Kingdom, and I think that the Ice King has something to do with it. I don't know what he is doing, but since he's a bit crazy, I'm gonna say that he's doing something bad."

Flame Princess Turned around, and looked at Finn. Then, she said "Hey, you're cleverer than you think, Finn! You don't need Bubblegum!" She put her arm around Finn, and the warmth made Finn feel nice inside. Finn closed his eyes and smiled. She was right – he didn't need Bubblegum! Finn opened his mouth and murmured to himself, "Ok, I'm ready. Flame Princess is the only one for me."

The king in the cellar started to stir. He had been kneeling at the alter for some time now, and he had fallen asleep. He wiped the spit from the side of his mouth and stretched. He took another look as the velvet covered box, and smiled. Stroking the box, he began to peel off the velvet cloth. From one side of the box, a silver glint was revealed. The entire box shook, and the king struggled to keep it in his hands. The box leapt out of his hands altogether, and landed with a smash on the floor. "Uh oh. Not good." the king said, and passed out on the floor.


	4. Chapter 4 - Memories

Back in the candy kingdom, Princess Bubblegum had been lying on her bed for a couple of hours. Ever since the disastrous meeting about the ice wall, she had locked herself in her pink bedroom and told Peppermint Butler to stand guard at the door. Every so often, she heard Peppermint's soft voice on the other side of the door, saying politely "The Princess wishes to be alone right now, please come back later." Not that she could hear much through the tears she was crying. Her pillow, split down the centre from a pillow fight with Lady Rainicorn, was lying on the floor – thrown there from a tantrum she had earlier. Her eyes – even through the tears – were staring fixatedly down at the bed. A book was laying in her line of sight, but she was not seeing it - her eyes were a blank. Photos littered the bed, photos of him and her on previous missions. Him standing with her as she perfected the zombie formula – him meditating with her on the balcony – him with the Litch's dead husk in the dungeon. Him and her as 13-year-olds. The best time of her life so far. The only time they kissed, contacted, hugged. Although she didn't show it, she loved every second of those precious few days – the only time she could respectably show her true feelings. In a sudden rage, she screamed and ripped the photo in half, quarters, eighths. Bleary eyed, she tore further pages from her diary, still screaming. Peppermint butler ran in, raising his normally soft voice to a shout.

"Princess! What are you doing? Stop!"

He ran to her bedside, and grabbed her arms. Although small, he was very strong – probably due to his unnatural relation with Death. She screamed louder with rage, and strained against his grip. Whipping round to see what could DARE to restrain her, her blazing eyes met Peppermint's calm ones, and her anger was cooled a fraction. Noticing the worry behind the gaze her temper was calmed further and the tears stopped flowing. With every second, she felt the logic returning to her frazzled brain. Blood rushed to her cheeks as she realised the staff of the castle were watching with fearful eyes from the corridor. Her breathing slowed, and she fell back onto her bed. Peppermint turned to the watching staff, and motioned for them to leave, which they did. A quick look back at the Princess shows that she wished to be alone again, so he left again, closing the door behind him.

Now calm, the Princess wiped her eyes and looked back at the bed and floor. Photos and pieces of diary pages littered the floor, and the empty body of her diary lay discarded on the bed. She reached down to pick up all her memories, when she stopped. A long forgotten page was in her hand – she had just picked it up. It was covered in symbols, numbers, and letters. A formula. Her heart leapt – she hadn't even looked at a formula for weeks (too busy thinking about Finn). Her naturally scientific mind started to work on it, and her brain made the links. The combination of symbols…she hadn't seen them since her parents left her alone in their lab when she was five years old. She remembered it…but only just…

"Mummy, where are you going?"

"Darling Bonnie, we're going out to see the candy fair! We'll be back later."

"Can I come, Mummy?"

Queen Bubblegum bent down to her daughter, and took her pink, chewy hair in her hand.

"Oh, sweetie. I would love you to come, but you're just too young. Maybe next year."

Bonnibel looked at the floor, and seemed grumpy all of a sudden. Then, she seemed to perk up considerably, and grinned up at the Queen.

"Ok Mummy!"

Suddenly, King Gumball entered the room. His reddish-pink hair had been cut down, and his normally tight pink suit had been replaced with a loose shirt and reddish-coloured jeans.

"My Queen! We'll be late, sugar fairy!"

At his voice, Queen Bubblegum's face lit up, and she ran to the door. She kissed him on the cheek, and gave him a hug.

"Let's go, honey." Looking at Bonnibel, she went on to say "We'll be back soon. In the meantime, the Peppermint servant has been put in charge of your protection. Bye sweetie!"

At that, the Queen swished out of the door, her elegant pink ball gown trailing after her. The King went to follow her, and then stopped. He turned, and went to his daughter. He had something in his hand.

"Darling, don't tell anyone about this, but keep it with you always."

He opened his hand, the one with the gold ring on it, and a golden crown was revealed. The front of it was upright, and contained at the top was a blue crystal. It shimmered in the light of the lab.

"Keep it safe, and wear it when we are not around. It will keep you safe."

"Can I tell Mummy?"

"No – don't tell mummy. She doesn't need to know. It will be our secret."

With that, the King left. As he did, the servant Peppermint came in, and the King whispered a few words into his ear.

And then he was gone.

She immediately put on the golden ring – a little big, but she could live with it. She felt the ring calm her – protect her. She felt suddenly safe, brave. The crown was working. Left alone except for the servant, young Bonnibel started to explore the lab. Of course, most of the tables were too high for her, but with Peppermint's help, she could reach the pink table. It had many bubbling potions on it; pink, red, blue, green. She looked at the pad of paper – but she couldn't read it! Too many unusual symbols she didn't understand. Although she could read, do basic math and even understand some formulae, this was WAY too complex for her. It was like her Mummy said – she was just too young. The red potion next to the formula started fizzing violently, and it spilled all over the floor. Just then, Cinnamon Bun walked in.

"Heyye Princess, I heard a crash"

He walked over to where Peppermint and Bonnibel were standing, and slipped over in his usually clumsy way. He sniffed the red liquid, and eagerly licked it up. Bonnibel sensed that this was wrong – that she had made is mistake.

"Cinnamon Bun – please stop!" she shouted in vain, and Peppermint (faithful as always) tried to get him to stop. But it was too late. Cinnamon Bun got up – apparently suffering no ill effects – and looked at the five year old strangely. He advanced on her, murmuring something, and then shouted "PRINCESS I LOVE YOU!"

Bonnibel screamed, and Peppermint leaped in front of the child and pushed Cinnamon Bun away. It didn't work – Cinnamon shoved Peppermint to the floor and ran after Bonnibel, who had wisely decided to run after her parents out the door.

She reached the palace gates, Cinnamon hot on her heels. She could see the main doors – so close now! – she couldn't be caught. However, she was still only small, and she could hear Cinnamon behind her breathing heavily. Her hands grasped the door knocker, and she flung the door wide open. Quickly she slammed the door shut behind her, and Cinnamon Bun couldn't stop in time. Thump.

She nervously opened the door, and saw Cinnamon sleeping soundly on the floor – unconscious. Bonnibel breathed a sigh of relief – and worry. What were her parents doing with a high-grade love potion? She looked around, and realised she was outside.

Outside.

She ran to the candy market. Banners and streamers lay everywhere – the street was deserted.

What had her parents said? 'We're going to the candy fair'. This must be the candy fair – there were rides everywhere. There should be candy children queued for them all around the street.

Something was wrong.

Suddenly there was a scream. A shout. In fear, Bonnibel felt she should run away, but instead found herself drawn towards the sound. She turned the corner, and saw chaos everywhere.

A monster – green tentacles, green skin and some kind of fur. Obviously not from nearby. She looked around – unconscious candy people; injured, possibly dead. The monster was leaning over something – somebody. A pink arm was lying from beneath the monster. It had a gold ring on it.

"DADDY!" she yelled, crying and upset. A woman came up behind her, ripped ball gown knotting around her injured legs.

Mummy.

"It's ok, sweetie." the Queen wept, grief-stricken. "He's not in pain anymore."

"DADDY!"

"No, Bonnie, you'll attract it's attention!"

Too late. The monster turned, and headed straight for the Princess and Queen. Bonnibel screamed, the Queen covered her eyes. Bonnibel saw the body of her father – saw a breath.

He was alive.

The monster screeched in pain. The Queen looked up, confused, and shielded her daughter from any harm it could possibly do. It passed out in the square, and a yellow blur passed through the body, cutting it in two. Bonnibel, of course, was shielded from this horrifying sight. Blood and debris flew out from inside the monster, and a red glint caught the Queen's attention.

A sword. A hero.

And another – tall, blue, with a gigantic sword.

Two heroes.

They emerged from the beast – victorious. The Queen ran up, and Bonnibel was shocked at the sight.

A blue giant, who the Queen was hugging and thanking "Billy". A yellow dog, red sword. Seemed quite young – very young. Obviously had had not much previous training at this hero business.

He looked up at the one called Billy, and thanked him for his help.

Upon the dog's back, a pouch. A small face peeping out, laughing, giggling in baby burbles, loving the moment.

Another scream, from her dad's body. Bonnibel ran up, along with her mother, Billy and the strange dog. Her dad was alive, and the Queen picked him up, crying with relief. He was just regaining consciousness. Billy followed her into the castle, worried. But Bonnibel and the dog stayed. A small child, a baby, was lying there. He was pale pink, and wore only a white cloth over his dignity. He was crying, bawling.

Bonnibel immediately recognised these signs, and clearly the dog did too.

A human.

Probably the last one.

The dog picked him up, and carried him off into the woods. The baby stopped crying at his touch, and his big blue eyes looked straight at Bonnibel. She waved, and the baby gurgled back, and smiled.

Princess Bubblegum was jerked awake. She must have fallen asleep. The dream-memory was fresh in her mind. The baby. Her parents, who she barely remembered. The dog. Billy.

The red potion.

"That's it" Bubblegum whispered. "Love potion."

Her brain made connections from other parts of the dream. Her first meeting with Finn – there was something there, even small. Of course, she knew now that the dog was Joshua – his adopted father, and the small dog was Jake – his adopted brother.

She jumped up, ran to her old books. She had found a big book when she was looking through the dungeons, and, although she knew it was unorthodox, she was desperate, and she remembered the old human saying – 'Desperate times call for desperate measures'. She flipped to the letter L – frantic now, for anything.

Her fast fingers quickly found the information she was looking for.

"…For a love potion to work, the target must have had an early exposure to you. Next, the person must have had a close relationship with you as they grew up. They must also have had love in their life since birth – this is essential. A family is perfect for this role. Finally, you must have something that means a lot to the person. Only this will make the potion work."

The Princess put the book down. If it would be the only way to ensure a smooth relationship away from Flame Princess, then she would have to do it. It might work.

It had to.

Back by the ice wall, the ground shook. Flame Princess floated up, scared, and Finn leapt to his feet and readied his sword. The tremors got worse, and worse, until Finn could no longer stand. His sword slid away from him, and Finn could do nothing to get it back. Flame Princess, however, could easily stand the tremors – after all, she was an elemental and could float above the ground slightly.

She grabbed the tin foil that had just slipped from his pack, and quickly fashioned gloves from it. Slipping them on, she hauled Finn to his feet, and got his sword for his. She lifted Finn up so he could float with her, and Finn regained control of himself once more.

"Thanks, FP." he said, once his breath had been regained.

The tremors continued, getting more violent by the second. Suddenly, the couple could see a dark shape on the other side of the wall. Flame Princess manoeuvred Finn closer to the wall, in case it came through. She was so close, and her heat should have melted the wall.

It didn't.

The dark shape got bigger and bigger, but, unusually, didn't seem to be getting closer to the wall. There was a muffled cry from the other side of the wall.

The Ice King.

With a shocking realisation, Finn saw how the shape was engulfing the Ice King's palace.

"Flame Princess, can you go higher?" he asked, concerned for the old fool now.

"Ur, I can try." she said, unsure.

She turned into her pure elemental state, yet left her hands free to grab Finn. She shot up as a streak, up the ice wall. Higher and higher they went – Finn could see all the way to the Candy Kingdom. Higher than anyone else in Ooo – they went through the clouds. Finn started to run out of oxygen. Flame Princess slowed – she was struggling from lack of oxygen too.

"Finn…I can't…go much…higher…" she said, dimming slightly.

"Ok…just…just a bit more" Finn replied. "I think…I can see…the top."

It was true. The top was growing nearer.

"Just…a bit…further" Finn stammered.

"Finn…I can't…"

"NOW! Throw me!"

Flame Princess, dizzy from lack of oxygen, let go of Finn. He fell down, and skilfully clung onto the top of the wall – fingers just holding on. The ice was slippery, but he managed to stand on top of the wall. Flame Princess, in desperate need of oxygen, started to go out, and fell unconscious – falling down to the ground far below.

"FLAME PRINCESS!" Finn yelled, using up all of the precious oxygen he had left in his lungs.

Finally, from fear and lack of oxygen, Finn swayed and fell down into the separated Ice Kingdom.

The void swallowed the hero up.

The king woke up. He was still in his cellar (thank goodness), but he couldn't see ahead of him. It was dark. For a moment, he thought he had gone blind, and he yelled as loud as he could. But on shooting an ice dagger into the darkness he realised he could see after all. Feeling embarrassed, he tried to remember what had happened. Hitting his crown, he suddenly remembered where he was – in his secret room. The box. With a gasp, he realised what he had done.

"The power…everywhere…" he whispered. "I should have taken it. I shouldn't have dropped it."

He groped around in the darkness, and found the box. He lifted it up in front of his face to see – empty. Completely.

The label, covered in dust, read:

"Wish Serum – for use with demonic wishing eyes."

The king reached for the eye – it should still be on the pedestal by the alter.

It was gone.


	5. Chapter 5 - Scattered

_**Note from the author: Hey! Thanks for reading! Sorry it took me so long to write this chapter, I had trouble deciding whether to add this new part in or just skip to…well…if you read the chapter, you'll find out! I know it's a different layout to before, but please give it a chance!**_

Drip, drip, drip.

"Hmm?"

Marceline looked up from her desk. The music sheets she had been furiously scribbling on were changing colour. They were getting…somewhat darker. In the gloom, she couldn't see what colour they were actually turning. On looking up, she discovered that there was a crack in the ceiling.

"Urgh, stupid house!" Marceline muttered. She floated up to the ceiling, and the liquid kept coming. Thinking it must be raining, Marceline looked outside.

It was sunny. A bright, sunny day, just like any other in Ooo.

Curious, she went really close to the crack.

A sharp scent hit her nose, and it felt…strange. She hadn't smelt it before, but she knew it was…different somehow.

A whimper came from above her, a girl's voice.

"Hello?" she said, slightly worried on the inside yet trying not to show it. When no reply came, she hurried to the door, tripping over discarded grey apples.

On opening the door, she immediately knew something was wrong. The surrounding cave…pretty normal. The darkness…also normal. It was when she looked up. A dark swirling mist had entered the cave and the short hair on the back of Marceline's neck stood up – that took some doing. She felt the electricity in the air – yep, something was most defiantly wrong.

It was the same electricity she felt every time she made a portal to the Nightosphere. Not like THAT was very often.

She floated up to the roof of the house, and the sight that met her eyes was almost unbelievable.

"Oh glob" she whispered. "It can't be…"

Drip, drip, drip.

Princess Bubblegum looked up from her chemistry equipment. She was almost, almost there. The colour was right. It just needed one thing…the DNA of the subject. Reaching into her pocket, she fumbled around.

It wasn't there.

In a moment of panic, she turned out her pockets, and everything fell out. Except the hair – it was no-where to be seen.

"NO!" she yelled. She couldn't give up so easily – she had come so far! But on looking at the floor, she saw the strand of hair. He had dropped so much of the stuff in his frequent trips to the kingdom. Her breathing slowed slightly, she bent over and picked it up. Before she could drop it again, she dropped it in the potion. A bang came from the red, bubbling potion, and then it stilled. The Princess' twisted experiment had worked. Quickly, she put a stopper in the bottle, but just as she was about to put it in her pocket, the bottle began to shake. A memory from years ago came to her…of the Ice King's same experiment that went wrong. Of how close he came to dying…and how close she did too. The stopper pinged off of the bottle, and shot around the lab. A pink mist floated out of the bottle, shaped like a heart, and started to come towards her. The Princess shrieked, and ran to the door. Her hands, slippery with sweat, somehow managed to open the candy door, and she slammed it shut behind her. She reached for her keys to lock the door – and, feeling sick, remembered them lying on the floor of the lab. She hoped the candy steel would keep it out…or she would be doomed for sure. She looked down at the ground – big mistake. Tendrils of pink mist were working their way through the cracks in the door.

"Oh glob, I really messed up this time" she whispered, trying to stay calm. Sweat poured off of her face, and her head felt hot. As more and more list worked its way through, she knew that this was it.

And as the largest trail of pink mist crept up to her mouth, she breathed in…and blacked out.

Drip, drip, drip.

Drops of water were landing on Finn's face. He opened his eyes – and saw…nothing. Literally, nothing. He had at least expected to see the ice wall, what with him being at the bottom. He had expected to feel the snow beneath him – cold and damp. Most of all, he had expected to see someone else. Maybe Flame Princess…

Flame Princess. The memories came back. The bang, the shaking. Going up the wall, in her arms. Watching her pass out, fall. So far. Being on the wall, light headed. Getting dizzy, falling himself.

So if he had fallen, he would have had SOME recognition of his surroundings. Instead, there was nothing. Just the darkness. For a second, Finn panicked – was he blind? He lifted his arms, and waved them in front of his face. No, he could see them – not blind. So what had happened? Was he still falling? Was he even on the ground? He pressed his hands to the ground – felt soil there. He pushed himself into a sitting position – ok, nothing broken from waist upwards – and bent his left leg.

Big mistake.

Pain shot up his entire leg, burning, consuming. It was much worse than anything he'd ever felt before – worse than Flame Princess' touch, worse than that time Jake had accidently crushed him.

Ok – legs are a no-go zone. He couldn't even FEEL his right leg, so…standing up wouldn't exactly work.

The darkness began to hurt – he strained to see something, ANYTHING, but there was just nothing. And still something was dripping onto his head. He touched it – it was sticky, and came off on his fingers. Knowing it was a bad mistake, he put the fingers in his mouth. The sticky liquid tasted sweet. Cold. Finn breathed a sigh of relief – it was only ice cream. But how did it get here – to the Ice Kingdom? Finn paused. Was he in the Ice Kingdom? After all, he wasn't even cold, and all he was wearing was a short sleeved T-shirt. In fact, it was pleasantly warm.

After much though, Finn decided not to move around – for all he knew, he could be surrounded by deep holes.

"Hello? Ice King? Gunther? HELLO?" he yelled. Wow, he seemed actually surprised that his voice worked, considering nothing else did. The sound of a voice – even his – stopped the pain his ears were going through in the dead silence for a bit. So, he could shout, hear, taste and see (if only a little bit in the darkness).

"Hello? ANYONE?" he tried again. No answer. For the first time, Finn realised that he was alone.

"Oh glob." he whispered. "I can't be here forever."

Drip, drip, drip.

Flame Princess woke up. How long has she been out? Certainly a while – she felt drained. She felt hot again – so she had reached oxygen to use. And it was clear she had fallen back into the grasslands – it looked pretty much the same as usual. She turned around – there was a singed spot behind her, and a dip in the grass next to it. Tears welled up in her eyes – that was when she and Finn were there. The memories were too fresh. She assumed the worst – her boyfriend was up on top of the wall with no oxygen. He must have fallen off, and he was only a…a…human. The human. There is no way he could have survived the fall. However, she couldn't see a…body…anywhere. She sobbed. He must have fallen on the other side. So she couldn't even say goodbye. She closed her eyes, and collapsed on the ground, sobbing.

He was gone.

"Glob, I only wanted him." she whispered through the tears.

Marceline looked in bewilderment at the portal. It was like none she had ever seen before – for a start, it was hovering in mid-air and was sphere shaped.

"How is this even POSSIBLE?" Marceline said. The swirling black mist was still whirling around the cave, but seemed to be collating on her roof. And underneath the sphere of mist, was a girl.

A human girl. And she was clearly a quivering wreck.

"Hey!" Marceline shouted. The girl looked up. She had stunning blue eyes, and they were wide with fear. And the sight of a flying vampire queen obviously didn't help her condition. She tried to move, but it was clear she had a problem with her legs. One wasn't moving, and the other she could obviously move, but only just. It was mangled, twisted unnaturally, and every single movement she made when she edged away from Marceline seemed painful to her. She suddenly whimpered, but she didn't even look at her leg – she kept eye contact with Marceline.

With horror, Marceline saw that she was moving away towards the edge of the roof.

"No, wait!" she shouted, but this only made the girl move quicker. Marceline shot through the air as quickly as she could, just as the girl launched backwards off of the roof. Her eyes ablaze, Marceline grabbed at the girl's grey T-shirt, and pulled her back onto the roof. As the girl lay motionless on her roof, Marceline landed next to her.

"Uh, you OK?" she asked, wanting to know if the girl had died of shock or not. When she saw a breath, Marceline realised that the girl was ignoring her. Now that she was close enough, Marceline began to take the girl's appearance in. She had long, tangled hair, which may have once been blonde but was now grey and dusty. She was wearing a skirt, and her T-shirt, which she had originally though was grey, was actually a light blue. As she stared, the girl began to turn over. Eventually, she was looked straight at Marceline. She had appeared to have calmed down now, and her blue eyes were sparkling.

"Hey, girl, looks like you finally decided to look at me without trying to kill yourself." Marceline smirked, in her usual sarcastic way. She held out a pale hand to the girl, who simply stared at the hand. She waited a while, but when it was clear that she wasn't going to do anything else, Marceline decided to do something. "Well, take my hand, human, or," she grinned in fake maliciousness, showing her sharp fangs, "am I going to have to drain the blood from yours first?"

The human obviously wasn't very bright, as her eyes widened with fear again and she started to shake. Marceline sighed. It was going to be a long evening. "It was a joke. So, are you going to tell me your name?"

After a moment's hesitation, the girl opened her mouth, showing her buck teeth.

"I'm…I'm…uh…" she stammered.

"What is it, human? Can't remember?" Marceline hissed. She was running out of patience.

"No, I can't remember. I can't remember…anything." The Human was obviously embarrassed by her lack of memory.

"Well, Miss Human, get this into your head. You are in the Land of Ooo, and the only female human I have seen for thousands of years. Also, you are on my roof and appeared at the same time as that giant mist portal to glob-knows-where." Marceline grinned again. "And my name's Marceline. The Vampire Queen."

The girl's face lit up at the mention of Marceline's name. "Marcel…ine? I…I know that name!"

Marceline looked confused. She didn't know this human. How could she know her?

"Um. I've never seen you before, so are you sure you know my name?"

The girl nodded frantically, smiling the whole time. "Yes! I know Marceline!" Then a pause, and the girl's expression became dark. "Actually…I don't know you."

Marceline sighed loudly in exasperation. "You're so ANNOYING!"

The girl flinched. "I don't know you…I know someone with a similar name to you."

Marceline froze. It couldn't be. The facts matched. Girl human, blond hair, buck teeth. Someone with a similar name to her. It couldn't be.

She refused to believe it. But…she had to ask. Just to check.

"The person with the similar name…"

"No, not a person. A vampire." the girl said. And Marceline gasped.

The facts defiantly matched.

"Was this vampires name…Marshall Lee?" she asked, shaking all over.

And the girl sat bolt upright. "Yes. Marshall Lee. Male Vampire. Looks a bit like you. Where is he? Do you know him?"

Marceline stood up, slowly. "I think…you'd better come with me."

Marceline bent over to the girl, and picked her up. She was light, incredibly light. How long had she been here? The girl was much more willing to co-operate now Marceline had mentioned Marshall Lee. She floated back down to her house, and lay the girl on her couch. The girl was tired, and was about to drop off. The questions Marceline was about to ask would have to wait.

Right now, she had a bigger problem – a giant portal problem.

And the only one to help her would have to be Bubblegum.


	6. Chapter 6 - Intertwined

Light.

He could see something, actually SEE something! The brightness lit up the surrounding area and burned into his eyes – not that there was anything to see. All it did was prove once and for all that he wasn't blind, but yeah, he already knew that. He felt…strangely drawn towards it, like it was pulling him towards it – both physically and mentally.

"Huh. So this is what dying feels like." he thought, nervous but slightly relieved to see a way out of this darkness. Suddenly the light grew larger – bigger and bigger, speeding towards him across the dark plain until it engulfed him in one giant boom…

Finn opened his eyes. As per usual, nothing to be seen. How many times had he had this dream about light now? 6, 7, 8 – more? And how long had he been down here anyway?

Wherever 'here' was.

Finn sighed, and stretched his legs, only to yell out in pain. Yep, legs still broken. But something was different. He felt…energised. And yes, he could feel BOTH legs now (even if all he could feel was pain). Was he healing? Maybe. Finn reached for his leg – the one which he couldn't feel before. Instead of mangled flesh, he felt smooth skin. And below that, something rough. A…plaster cast? Suspicion leapt through Finn's brain. Someone had been here.

It was the sign he had waited for.

"Hello?" Finn yelled into the darkness, not really expecting a reply.

"Oh good, you're awake! Hold on, I'll be there in a flash." A female voice cut through the silence, shocking Finn so much that he fell over…

…onto a soft pillow. Finn was confused for a moment – there was nothing next to him before! But when he put his hands to the pillow and pulled, feathers rained down over him, brushing his face and clothes. Yep, defiantly a pillow, Finn thought to himself. But what was a pillow doing in the dark nothingness? Finn shifted himself to the left a little, just to explore his new surroundings. And he felt a steep drop to his left too late.

He fell, but not too far. Huh, Finn said to himself, I guess it wasn't as far as I thought. As he hit the ground, there was a bright light like in his dream, and suddenly he could see EVERYTHING.

Marceline drifted over to the fridge, and took out two red apples. She thoughtfully took a long drag of red from one of the apples, and sighed. She placed the apple onto the table, and went on to stare at it blankly, concentrating on each dip and wrinkle on the skin. Her eyes wandered to a discarded sock on the counter, long and white. Her eyes wandered further – to her living room, the un-comfy red couch that was about 1000 years old. Up till now, only Finn and Jake had sat on it, and that was when she tricked them. Now, a different human sat in it. Tangled blonde hair fell over the chair, released from the white hat that usually covered her head. A light blue shirt encased her chest, and Marceline had covered her legs with a red blanket. Her cave wasn't exactly warm, after all.

Marceline had had a tough day. She had just discovered that the main subject of Ice King's sick fantasies was real, and sleeping on her couch. Even worse was the giant portal above her house that could release anything from anywhere at any time. Marceline sighed again – she would have to take this girl to Bubblegum and explain about the portal, but first, the girl must rest.

There was a noise from the sitting room. A sort of sighing noise. Marceline looked up; she must be waking up. Great. Now she would have to find out if she was ok, feed her, drag her to Bubblegum's, explain everything, and somehow fix it all. Sighing once more, she drifted over to the couch, to see the girl's large blue eyes begin to open.

"Huh…uh." the girl said sleepily, whilst rubbing her eyes. "Marshal?"

Marceline sighed again. "No. We established this earlier. I'm Marceline. Marshal isn't here." To herself, she said, "At least, not that I know of…"

"What?" the girl said.

"Huh? Oh, nothing. So, what's broken?" Marceline said brightly, putting on a smile that she knew looked fake. Straight after she said this, the girl frowned, and looked to her legs.

"I…I'm not sure. I think my legs might be. I can't really feel one of them."

"Huh. Interesting. How did it happen?"

The girl looked at her legs again, and then said something that Marceline would never have expected.

"I fell off a wall. At least, I think I did…I was fighting some sort of beast with…a cat? Yes, a cream coloured cat! And…we were fighting really good! But then…I felt really…dizzy, then I was falling, and the cat was helping me, then I was on a wall up really really high – and I wasn't sure HOW I got there – but then I fell off, and I kept falling, then…"

"You woke up on my roof." Marceline finished for them.

"Y…yeah." the girl said, feeling a little deflated that she wasn't able to finish the story.

The story was enough. The cat had clinched it. The rest seemed just nonsense, but it somehow connected – otherwise how would this conversation be possible?

The girl was Fionna.

Back on the grass, Flame Princess woke up from her nap. She stretched, and looked around. No, nothing was right. He was still gone.

Where had he gone? He had been over that wall for 4 days now! And besides, she hadn't moved from that spot for that long, so she was getting bit hungry. Her eyes looked towards the Candy Kingdom, and stopped. There was smoke coming from the back of Princess Bubblegum's castle.

It was on fire.

Despite Flame Princesses hatred of the pink lady, she couldn't let her burn and melt away! After all, if she did that, then Finn wouldn't talk to her ever again. When he got back. Also, there were many innocent candy people in the castle – although she had an evil upbringing, she didn't want to kill people just to get back at Bubblegum!

Quickly, Flame Princess stood up and became her elemental self. She streaked across the grass, hurrying towards the Candy Kingdom as quickly as she could. She couldn't let it happen, she just couldn't. On nearing the kingdom, she realised that the smoke was a pinkish colour rather than the usual grey.

"Huh?" Flame Princess said. She was confused – if this wasn't a fire, then what was it? She continued to the wall, and then simply rushed upwards. The window the smoke was coming out of was wide open, and was plenty wide enough for a fire elemental.

As she landed on the window sill, she transformed back into her normal shape. The sight which met her eyes was…interesting to say the least.

The usually tidy laboratory which Bubblegum used the most was destroyed. Bottles lay smashed everywhere, and coloured liquids that Flame Princess couldn't even begin to name were spilled all over the floor. Not to mention the pink smoke that completely filled the room, so much that it would be hard to see (if not for her own flames lighting the room). The smoke's source was easy to pinpoint – it was coming out of the only bottle that wasn't smashed.

But most disturbing was the creature in the corner. It was impossible to tell what it was, but it was defiantly alive, though, as it was breathing. Also impossible to determine was the identity of the creature – it was facing the wall. Flame Princess edged closer to the thing – being careful to keep her guard up. It could attack at any moment. As she got within one metre of it, she saw that it was covered in a pink blanket. Quickly, so as not to burn the fabric, Flame Princess grabbed the blanket and whipped it off the thing.

Flame Princess looked at the thing just once, and realised what it was.

It was Princess Bubblegum. But she looked…wild. A feral look in her eyes, Bubblegum turned to face the fire elemental, and launched herself at her. Luckily, Flame Princess managed to dodge her attack, but Bubblegum just turned around and put on a tin-foil suit. Before Flame Princess could react, Bubblegum grabbed a water gun, aimed for Flame Princess, and yelled

"YOU!"

before squeezing the trigger.

And Flame Princess blacked out on the floor of the laboratory.

"So" Finn said, munching a sandwich, "You two have had some rad adventures. Just like me and Jake."

"Yeah." Cake said, contentedly swishing her tail around from her position on Finn's lap. "It was great. Only…there's one thing missing."

Finn looked confused, but stayed silent for a moment while he waited for Cake to continue.

"It's Fionna. She's not here with me. I mean, not now. I don't even know where she is."

A single tear made its way down her face, and the cat immediately swiped it away angrily. Like her doggy counterpart, she hated others to see her cry, and as a result, hardly ever did it. ESPECIALLY not in front of people she hardly knew. Finn, hating to see someone cry, stroked Cake behind her ears. This seemed to appease the cat for a moment, and Finn said "Yeah, that always cheered Jake up, too."

Cake couldn't help but smile, and Finn smiled along with her. Then, Finn said something that changed everything.

"Cake, I'll help you find Fionna."

Cake sat bolt upright, and for a second her eyes lit up. "You…you'd do that for me?"

Finn grinned at her. "Yep. Of course! After all, I'm the hero round these parts, so…yeah, it's my duty to save her and get you both home."

"But…your leg is still broken, and besides, we're stuck in the ice kingdom."

Finn laughed. "Man, Jake was always naively optimistic, but you girl, you're realistic."

Cake laughed along with the boy, and helped him to his feet. She handed him his crutch, which Finn declined, saying that he would survive without them. The two made their way to the door of the makeshift tree-house, and Cake pushed the door open.

As the duo exited the house, Finn's eyes widened in shock. Point 1: The Ice kingdom was still like he remembered it to be, but the sky was a darkish purple. As they were near the wall, Finn could see through it, and the sky beyond the wall was as blue as ever. "This can't be good." Finn muttered to himself. He knew from experience with the Litch that dark skies in the middle of the day were bad. Very bad. Point 2: There were usually lots of penguins running around the kingdom, often with the Ice King, but the place was utterly devoid of life. No penguins, no snow beasts, not snow golems – nothing. Point 3: The King's castle was missing. Before his accident, Finn and Flame Princess were on the grass just beyond this wall, and they could see the castle from there – that was further from the castle than they were now.

The kingdom was an ice desert.

Cake started to speak, but Finn had tuned out from what she was saying, and somehow managed to miss everything she said. Luckily, she repeated what she said when she received no response.

"Finn, we need to go."

"Huh? Uh, yeah. It's just…wow…the kingdom is different now."

"No, Finn, we need to go NOW."

The tone of urgency in the cat's tone made Finn turn around sharply.

In the distance was a shape. It was floating, but kept losing height every now and again. Like it was ill, or sick. As the object got closer, Finn could see that it was in fact two people. One floating, but struggling under the weight of the other. The one being carried kept groaning, and purple mist kept coming out of its mouth. It's face was sickly and grey, and as the couple drew nearer, Finn realised with a jump that it was Ice King.

Being carried by…a vampire? A male Vampire? Finn looked back at Cake in confusion, and she was terrified – her pupils were dilated and her mouth was wide open.

"Do you…know this vampire?" Finn asked, knowing the answer already.

"Y…y...y…y…yes. That's Marshal Lee. HELP FINN!"

With that, Cake jumped into Finn's pack, and shrank down as small as she could. She must have been shaking terribly for Finn to feel her trembling through the backpack.

Finn turned to face the two once more, and found the vampire had reached them. His face was one of disgust, and he threw the Ice King on the ground at Finn's feet, whereupon the Ice King let out a loud groan and passed out. The vampire smirked, and looked Finn in the eyes. His frown only grew, and he sighed with exasperation.

"Damn. I thought you were Fionna, what with Cake being there and all. He. Guess I though wrong. Well, see ya human."

With that, the vampire (who Cake said was called 'Marshal Lee') drifted away.

"WAIT!" Finn yelled.

"Gees, boy, you don't have to YELL." Marshal replied. He floated upside down, and smiled cheekily. He got really close to Finn's pack, and hissed really loudly, whilst pulling the most ridiculous face. Cake, who had plucked up enough courage to look out of the pack, shot back into the depths of his bag to tremble once more.

Finn readied his fists. "Why d'ya do that, jerk? You really scared her."

Marshal simply laughed. "Wow, you really are like her. Anyway, um, Finn is it? Yeah, you're in no fit state to fight me, the Vampire King." As he said this, he floated near the ground and tapped Finn's cast, causing him to fall over. This only angered Finn, and he slapped the vampire's face. However, he only laughed. Finn growled.

"I can't BELIEVE Marceline's counterpart is such an obnoxious JERK!" he yelled in Marshal's face, causing him to hiss and pull a face. By now, Finn had just about had enough of this. A passed out wizard next to his face, a terrified cat in his pack, a broken leg and to top it all, the most annoying vampire that could possibly exist.

Seeing that Finn could explode at any point, Marshal Lee backed off, and helped the boy to his feet.

"Hold on, hold on. I don't want to fight you, human. I only want to find Fi and go home. All I was trying to do was sneak away from my mum in the Nightosphere, and I guess I used the wrong portal spell, so the next thing I know, I'm in some old dude's house and the room is filled with wish serum smoke. The idiot had used it wrong – tried to use it without the right equipment. Anyway, when I rescued him-"

"Rescued the Ice King? Man, I don't hear that much." Finn interrupted. The vampire gave Finn a look that clearly said 'Shut up.'

"Anyway, I saw you and Cake, thought you were Fionna and…yeah, you know the rest."

Marshal gave Finn a suspicious look, and said "Hang on, how do you know about us anyway? Did Cake tell you?"

"Yeah, I guess you could say that." There followed an awkward silence between the two.

"Sooooo…"Marshal said, only prolonging the silence. The two stood there and regarded each other in silence. To Finn, it seemed that this was all some sort of strange dream – so the Ice King's fantasy world had come true, inside his OWN world. To Marshal, he simply put on a cool, calm face like he usually did. He was amused at the boy's face – the emotions were not hidden very well. They went from anger to confusion, to sadness to a facial expression that could only be described as lost.

Marshal tried once again to engage in conversation. "Hey Finn…"

But before he could continue, Finn interrupted. "Marshal, how do you know my name? Cake told me Ice Queen didn't write fanfiction about us like Ice King writes fanfiction about you guys."

Marshal didn't quite know how to answer this question. How DID he know? It was like…like he had gone over to them, thinking he was Fionna, and when he saw who it actually was, something clicked in his brain. He had never before heard the name 'Finn' and never seen the boy, let alone met him and talked to him.

Millions of excuses flew through his brain. What should he say that wouldn't make him look crazy?

"Um…well…I figured that if we crossed dimensions to a gender-swapped universe, then 'Finn' would work for a gender-swapped Fionna."

Finn considered this option, and finally seemed to accept it, and the vampire King silently let of a sigh of relief.

"So back to MY question." Marshal forcefully said. "What are you doing in the Ice Kingdom?"

"It's a long story." Finn said.

"I got time." Marshal said, floating into a seated position and put his hands behind his head.

_**Authors Note: **__Hey hey hey fans! Liking the story so far? It's been so fun to write, especially the gradual inclusion of the gender-bent characters! Do you like the way the gender-swapped characters are in it, or was the story better without them? I appreciate any feedback – I wasn't even sure about including Marshal in this chapter! Please review – I take into account all you say! Don't forget to check my profile for updates on how the story is going, as I upload sneak previews regularly. _

_Adventure on, people!_

_~squizzlegirl1469_


	7. Chapter 7 - Guilt

Flame Princess opened her eyes. Everything was hazy, as if viewed from far away. She sat up carefully, as her head hurt a bit. Where am I? she thought, trying to remember what had happened before she passed out. But no memories came forward. She remembered sitting by the wall thinking about Finn, missing him, wondering when he was going to come back, but after that...nothing. She looked around, and through the haze managed to see that she was in some kind of laboratory. Confused even further by her surroundings, she looked for some sign of what had happened. There were a few scorch marks on the wall and floor (made by herself, she presumed) and something dripping from the wall above her. She stood up and touched it, only to be met with a burning sensation in her fingers. She looked down, already knowing that her flame would have been put out. She recognized the pain from Finn's tears. It was water.

A cackle from behind her stopped her train of thought. She instantly whipped around, and created a fireball hovering at her fingertips.

"Who's there?" she shouted to the empty room. From the corner, she saw a figure rise and grow taller, making her suspicious. She enlarged the flame, lighting the room, and saw that the figure had long hair. The figure had on a white lab. coat which was stained a variety of colours, and on closer inspection the figure had un-brushed, frizzy hair. The figure's eyes were large, completely glazed over and the left eye kept twitching rapidly. The crown upon her head was lopsided and dirty - even the blue gem usually adorning the crown was discoloured and had lost some shine. As Flame Princess looked into those pink eyes, she felt the anger and hatred she thought she had controlled over the past few weeks bubble up within herself, and her face darkened.

"Princess Bubblegum." she hissed.

Bubblegum walked slowly towards Flame Princess, her eye twitching uncontrollably and her hands shaking from their position at her waist. The smile accompanying this mad behaviour was wide, and long drawn out breaths came from it.

"Yes, Flame Princess, hello, hi, welcome, nice of you to break in to my castle!" she said, in a strained high-pitched voice. She spoke quickly, as if the words were desperate to get out. In the same tone, which FP found slightly patronising, she continued.

"So, darling Flame, how's Finn? Is he ok? Still, uh" Princess Bubblegum shuddered. "in _love _with you?"

Flame Princess scowled at her, trying to swallow the feeling of rage that bubbled up inside her once more. Luckily, spending more time with Finn had really helped with the anger, and she managed to quench this particular rage.

"Don't talk to me like that." she said through gritted teeth, while the fireball at her fingertips grew larger. She was aiming to threaten Princess Bubblegum, but the Princess hardly noticed. Instead, she continued with her patronising views.

"Yes, love. It's funny, isn't it, how one so young as him thinks he's in love. You as well, yes, both so young. What can you know of love? Nothing. No, not a thing."

Flame Princess had had enough of this. She shot the fireball at Bubblegum, who dodged out of the way with strange ease. Bubblegum stopped mumbling about love, and turned to face Flame Princess. She laughed, and walked so close to Flame Princess that her flames were singeing PB's clothes.

"Don't you see, young one, that you are in no position to attack me? Look around, see, it is dangerous here for a fire elemental."

Flame Princess gave PB a suspicious look, and slowly turned her head to the left. As PB hadn't moved, she took the opportunity to glance around the lab. The walls were normal enough, but when she looked at the ceiling…it was enough to chill even the hottest flame. For in every square inch of ceiling was a hose nozzle. How could I have missed this? she thought, for surely this was what had been dripping on her when she woke up. And, she thought with a feeling of dread, there was no way she would get out in time to live should all those nozzles be turned on at once. In horror, she looked back at Princess Bubblegum. Her face was halfway between a sneer and a smile, giving her the creepy look of someone who had just been horrible, but had disguised it as sarcasm so they wouldn't be offended.

"Oh Flame, you silly girl. I'm too smart for you!" she said, while reaching into the pocket of her coat. A second later, she retrieved a remote with just one red button on it.

"I'd hate to see what this does. But, should you attack me again…" Bubblegum pointed a finger to the red button and giggled a girly laugh. Flame Princess clenched her fist, and the anger inside her rose again, but her consciousness was telling her not to attack again – she could easily die should she make a wrong move here.

"Anyway, what were we talking about?" Bubblegum said absent-mindedly, as if she hadn't just made a death threat and was actually just having a chat about what was for lunch. "Oh yeah, Finn. Isn't he a charmer? So cute, yes? So friendly, so…defensive. Yeah, such a shame. A crying shame. I assume, here, that you like him?"

Yeah, more than he ever liked you. Flame Princess thought, but out loud she said "It's none of your business, you never even liked him yourself! Who do you think you are, PB? You broke his heart!"

"You should know your own boyfriend, Flame Princess. Did he never tell you? I kissed him first. I loved him first. He was MINE first. You stole him from ME, and in this way, it was YOU who broke his heart!"

Flame Princess, by now, was shaking with rage, and this was only amplified by the knowledge that she couldn't even fight back.

"Princess Bubblegum." she managed to stammer out, and somehow managed to walk up to her without self-destructing. She reached her ear, and began to whisper.

"You think this is true. You are wrong. If that is what you think, I'm glad I fell in love when I did. What were you going to do, keep him in suspense for the rest of his life? You're sick, pure sick." Flame Princess let out a short laugh, "And I thought_ I_ was the evil one."

Princess Bubblegum was taken aback, and flinched back from the cutting words. Ironic, Flame Princess thought, considering the things she said to me. And this was the chance FP needed. As PB was hesitating, she grabbed the remote and, being careful not to touch the button, threw it to the ground. PB shrieked; reached for the remote – but she was too late. Flame Princess stomped on the remote, and it shattered beneath her fiery gaze. Springs and cogs flew around the lab; some scraping PB's face and leaving behind scratches on her once-flawless face, others hitting bottles on the desks. Flame Princess ground her foot into the floor, completely destroying the remote. The little light on top of the remote went out, yet Princess Bubblegum kept on reaching out for it. In horror, Flame Princess watched as her flame consumed Bubblegum's hand. She screamed, but Bubblegum didn't seem too bothered – instead, she let out a high pitched giggle and withdrew the hand. It was melted and misshapen, the fingers burnt and the hand floppy. Flame Princess fought back the urge to relieve her stomach of its contents, and still Princess Bubblegum did nothing to show it was painful.

Flame Princess pulled back her foot, and (once her stomach had settled) addressed the giggling wreck on the floor.

"What it WRONG with you?" she yelled at the top of her voice, making the Princess on the floor flinch. "You just MELTED off your HAND, and you just SIT THERE? Finn told me you were sane, but now I've seen you in person…" Flame Princess paused and took a deep breath. Princess Bubblegum hadn't even looked up during this outburst – she was staring at her dress while muttering "My dress it ruined, its ruined, why is it ruined, why is it burnt, it wasn't burnt a second ago, its ruined, it's all ruined…"

This enraged Flame Princess, and her fire grew brighter. How DARE she ignore her? She was the Princess of FIRE!

"LISTEN TO ME, YOU PSYCO! LISTEN TO WHAT IM SAYING!" she screamed, and shot a fire bolt at the wall. It scorched the wall, leaving a smoking trail behind. With another scream, she raced to one of the tables and transformed into raw elemental form. She spread her arms wide, and touched many bottles. One, a yellow liquid, exploded at her hot touch; sending shards of glass around the lab. They hit the Princess in the face, and she appeared to feel some pain, but no-where near what she should have felt. Flame Princess didn't even notice – she had already grabbed two more bottles. These contained a bright blue liquid, and reminded her of Finn's blue T-shirt. This thought brightened her flames further, as if giving her more of a reason to fight. She threw both bottles at Bubblegum; one of them smashed on impact with the floor, the blue liquid spreading across the lab – the other rolling towards the Princess, untouched. The Princess picked up this bottle, as if in a daze, and stared at it, unseeing. Flame Princess, still in a rage, spotted a test tube with a red liquid in it. The content was gently smoking, and this attracted Flame Princess. She picked it up, and, on spying another one, pocketed it in her dress pocket – satisfying her guilt with the knowledge that it wasn't really stealing. She grabbed the other one, and turned to the Princess. She was shaking, still staring at the bottle that hadn't smashed. Flame princess felt a slight pang of pity, and then remembered the things she had said, and wielded the red bottle.

"YOU WANT TO PLAY WITH FIRE HUH?" she yelled. "Fine. PREPARE TO GET BURNED!"

On saying this, she threw the red bottle as hard as she could at the Princess. It hit her with such force that she slid across the lab and hit a table. Bubblegum looked down into her lap. A pool of the red liquid was sitting there, soaking into her skin and clothes until it vanished from sight. Flame Princess let out a shriek, and immediately calmed down. What have I done? she asked herself repeatedly. Isn't this what Finn helped me NOT to do? And now, I've hurt his former lover. Oh damn, she thought, as she dashed over to the wounded Princess.

"So, basically, that's all I know." Finn ended, having explained to Marshall all he knew about their current predicament. It was a long explanation, but one that they both deemed necessary. There was a pause after his tale ended while Marshall thought through the seriousness of the situation. It seemed that at least two of the people from his dimension had managed to get into the other. If this was the case, questions would begin to arise.

Who else got here?

How did they even get here?

And how would they get back?

Marshall knew he would be able to get back, what with his ability to create portals at his own will. But Cake got here seemingly without creating a portal. He would have sensed it if the cat had made a portal – one of his demon powers was, after all, sensing magical powers, and portal creation was NOT one of the ones she possessed.

Back to the first question, who else could have possibly got here? Cake got here, and the last time he saw her in his own dimension, she was…

With Fionna.

"HEE-YA!" Fionna yelled, sailing across the room with her demon sword wielded. From the side-lines, Cake cheered her on while shivering away from the object of Fionna's attack. The sword struck the wall, missing its target by a few inches. Fionna pulled the sword out of the wall as quickly as she could, but she was too slow. Out of the corner of her eye, a shape darted to the wall and struck her in the back. Something hissed in her ear and hit her around the face, while Fionna retaliated with her sword, scratching her opponent in the face. The opponent hissed again, and attempted a return attack but Fionna out-manoeuvred him this time, karate-chopping him in the legs. The target slowed down and tripped, landing face down on the tiled floor. Fionna gasped, and put her sword back in her pack.

"Oh my glob, and you ok Marshall?" she said in a worrying tone. Marshall coughed, and rolled over.

"Yeah, I'm fine." he said in a pathetically weak voice. Fionna helped him up, and he began to float in the air. He gave a weak smile at Fionna, and winked at her, before smirking and flying to Cake and hissing. She grew angry, and snatched Cake (who was by now shaking uncontrollably), scowling at Marshall the whole time. He simply winked at her, and grabbed an apple from the table.

"What is WRONG with you? That wasn't nice, man!"

Marshall bit into the apple, and drank the colour from it. "Chill out, Fi. That was fun! Lighten up, will ya?"

"No, Marshall, I get that you scare Cake, and you think it's funny, but-"

"Shhh. You hear that?" Marshal said, floating over with a worried look and placing a finger on Fionna's lips. "Yeah, there it was again. Did you hear?"

Fionna looked puzzled, and then Marshall hissed very loudly, causing Cake to scream and scramble into Fionna's pack.

"You jerk! What's with you today?" Fionna shouted at him. Marshall laughed, and threw the apple he was holding onto the couch. Fionna sighed; a short, angry sigh – then turned around and flung open the door, glancing back a couple of times to shoot Marshal a deadly glare. As she reached the door, she gave him one last look – Marshall looked slightly puzzled, but still had a cheeky grin on his face. Fionna looked at the ground, upset, then spoke in a calmer tone.

"You know, Marshall" she said "I thought you were alright. But you keep messing with Cake, and…" She stopped, took a deep breath as if keeping some unknown anger under control.

"Me and Cake are going to go and fight something. Do not follow us." she said, and slammed the door behind her.

Marshall, so deep in thought, didn't notice that Finn had managed to limp inside the hut and retrieve his crutch, having decided that it might be useful if he needed to fight. Nor did he notice that the Ice King had begun to groan from his position on the floor, and that the purple mist was continuing to flow from his mouth. In fact, his face had changed colour to a dark grey. For the thoughts Marshall was having had gone beyond reminiscing those last few moments. They were accompanied by the pang of guilt. He didn't even know where Fionna was, let alone if she was safe. Something really bad must have happened if her older sister was here without Fionna – Cake would defend Fionna to the last.

So many questions…and he just didn't have the answers.

"La da do, dee da dee!

Walking!

Through the Field!

To the Candy Kindgom!

Visit my bro!"

An out-of-tune song echoed through the grasslands, as Jake the dog sauntered home. It had been an exhausting couple of days – what with his grown-up pups; who by now were more adults than little pups. To be honest, he was looking forward to a few normal days with Finn – and the apple pie time they spent together. He didn't get to eat apple pie with Lady – she didn't really like apple pie. His stomach growled at the thought of apple pie.

"He he, bet you wish you had some apple pie!" Jake said to himself, and his gut growled louder in reply. Jake looked up, and saw his tree house in the distance. His spirits lifted at the thought of being with his bro again, and he began to jog towards it.

_**Authors Note:**_

_Hey! Very sorry I didn't update sooner, I've been very busy with my exams and stuff. But there it is - the latest update! Also, this chapter update comes with the dawn of a new FanFiction – "Rising Bubbles". It's about Bubblegum's childhood, and the adventures she had. Give it a go – because you never know (Ha! a rhyme!)._

_Also, I changed my FanFiction username. I'm trying to give myself a new start – new pen-name, new chapter, new fanfiction. _

_Adventure on, people!_

_Wolf-Princess-Sophia-IV (formally squizzlegirl1469)_


	8. Chapter 8 - Joining

_**Authors Note: **__Well, I guess this is getting a little confusing for all. So, for reference: _

_ICE SIDE: Finn, Cake, Marshal Lee, Ice King_

_Ooo: Flame Princess, Jake, Princess Bubblegum, Marceline, Fionna_

_That's all the characters that have been active so far. Enjoy the next chapter!_

Fionna awoke with a start. PROPERLY awake. She dimly remembered drifting in and out of consciousness, but only remembered saying a few words – she didn't even remember what she had said. But this time, she was defiantly awake. She saw the ceiling of Marshall's house. She was confused – she remembered storming out of this house with Cake, and fighting a beast. That must have been a while ago, and she must have been hurt pretty badly. So how did she get here? Her stomach grumbled, and she realised that she hadn't eaten since before she visited Marshal. She noticed a stick next to the couch and realised it was meant for her. As she reached for it, her hand brushed a piece of paper stuck between the pillows. She picked it up, and looked at it. It depicted a young boy, about her age, with a yellow dog. They were smiling and wielding swords in the air, while the boy held the head of some kind of monster. In the background was what looked like the Candy Kingdom, with Gumball's castle. This unsettled her – she knew all the citizens of the area, and would DEFINATLY know if there was another human nearby. She flipped the photo, and there was writing on the back. It read:

_To the greatest heroes I know – Finn the human and Jake the dog. See you soon!_

_Princess B. Bubblegum._

The writing posed more questions than Fionna could begin to answer, so she simply tucked the photo into her shirt pocket. Intrigued now, she began to move the pillows around a bit, and found a bunch more photos. One was of a pink lady, in a pink hoodie, with loads of other girls. One looked a LOT like Lumpy Space Prince, except without his ratty moustache. The back read, _Can't wait for next movie night, guys!_ Another photo was of an elderly man with a crazed look in his eyes. He was wearing a blue frock, and had light blue skin. The back was filled with writing, most of it unreadable.

A bang from the kitchen door startled Fionna. She quickly shoved the photos into her pockets and turned around. As she did, she began to talk.

"Marshall, I don't know HOW I got here, or where Cake is, but you'd better start giving me answers!"

She turned fully around to face Marshall, and was met with a view of a female vampire, floating in front of her with an apple in her hand, and a slightly bored expression on her face.

"Wha-" she began, but the vampire interrupted before she could continue.

"Oh. You're awake. Again." she said, in a tone that matched her face. She drank the colour from the apple, then tossed it to the floor. She floated back to the kitchen and vanished from sight.

Fionna, slightly annoyed by this show, levered herself up and hobbled over to the door. She turned, and saw that on the table was a pack. Her pack. Next to it was her golden sword, and it was polished for once. Funny, she thought, she didn't remember making her sword like that. She looked it the pack. It was full of food, medical stuff, and her personal stuff like pictures of her friends and her phone. Her bunny hat was also in there, and she quickly slipped it on. She also took the photos from her pocket and added then to the hoard in her pack, which she put on. She picked up the sword, and tucked it in her pack. The vampire was no-where to be seen, but Fionna could hear water running upstairs, so she was likely to be up there. That gave her some time to figure out what was going on. She took a seat at the table, and lay her head in her hands.

A few minutes later, the vampire floated back in wearing a grey-coloured top and a pair of blue shorts. Her long black hair was tied back into two thick bunches, showing the two red marks on the neck, similar to those that marked Marshall's neck. She was holding a piece of paper, which was folded so that Fionna could not see what was written on it. From her waist hung a dagger – but if her fighting style was anything like Marshall's, then Fionna felt sure that the dagger would not be necessary.

"Ready to go, Miss Adventuress?" the vampire said, a bright smile upon her face. Fionna was, again, confused – she seemed to have forgotten the circumstances.

"Erm…where are we going?" she asked, keeping stickier questions for later.

"We? Fionna, _I_ am taking _you_ to the Candy Kingdom to be sent home." The vampire floated over. "You do want to go back, right?"

"Um, I don't-"

"Good. Then you can stop SQUATTING HERE AND LEAVE!"

The vampire then proceeded to grab Fionna by the back of her shirt and half-drag her out of the door.

Princess Bubblegum looked up, her consciousness beginning to wake inside her once more. Her vision was blurred, and a mist was already beginning to enter her brain, clouding her thoughts. She looked up, and through the haze saw something bright, her nose smelling the delicate smoky smell of fire. Just before her confused brain made the connection, Flame Princess reached her.

"Oh my glob, oh my glob, oh my glob, I'm so sorry, Bubblegum! Please don't be hurt!" she said, her voice slightly rasping from behind the lava tears. She tried to hide it, but she really was crying – for although there was a hatred brewing between them, well – she didn't want to REALLY hurt her. Just threaten her.

But Princess Bubblegum didn't hear any of it. Her muffled brain and senses only saw the brightness of a flame, and recognised a face among the fire. Her thoughts started to connect, and a fragment of memory returned to her.

"_What I am saying is that the wall isn't a…straight line. Rather, it's a bowl, but I can't calculate how high it goes. This goes deeper than just some barrier, Finn. I can sense other disturbances from within the bowl. Whatever the Ice King is doing in there, it isn't good."_

Of course, she thought. The Ice Wall must be dealt with before any silly love triangles that might exist. And she remembered a way to get in, and possibly destroy it.

Her brain began to rid itself of the fog covering it. Now that she thought a bit more, she DID recognise the face in the flames. It must be Finn's new crush, Flame Princess.

The fog began to cloud her judgement again. No, she thought. She mustn't think about this now. Flame Princess may, in a way, be her enemy, but she could stop the Ice King where she could not. She must tell her about her new weaponry and tools. It was essential to the survival of Ooo. Of course, she had made them to Finn's measurements, but they should fit Flame Princess.

Her vision cleared with these rational thoughts, and she saw Flame Princess staring down at her, her face paler than usual and lava tears streaming down her face. She was…crying over her? What had happened?

Flame Princess had her eyes closed, and she continued to cry. What if…she injured her more than could be mended? What if she had taken her to the ultimate gates? What if…what if…

"Flame Princess…please…listen…"

Flame Princess was shocked. That sounded like Princess Bubblegum's voice! She opened her eyes, and saw that Bubblegum had half-opened her eyes. She was holding out her arm, and attempting to talk, but her voice was whispery and rough. Bubblegum continued.

"I…have been monitoring the Ice Kingdom. There have been disturbances. Please…I know Finn is over there. I…I need a good person to take care of him…"

Flame Princess blushed. "You…think I'm a good person?" Princess Bubblegum ignored her.

"While I am still conscious, I need to tell you something. In the candy dungeons, there are instructions on what to do and supplies to help you. You will need my notes too. They…are with the supplies."

Bubblegum paused, and it seemed that she was finished. Flame Princess turned, and went to leave, when the Princess began to murmur.

"When you find Finn, tell him…I…I…"

There was a thump, and Flame Princess turned back. Bubblegum had passed out on the floor. For the first time, Flame Princess felt sympathetic for Finn's ex-crush. She went to pick her up, and then decided it would be a bad idea, considering her flames. She rummaged for a while, before finding some tin-foil. She covered the unconscious body in a tin-foil blanket, then bandaged Bubblegum's wrist in it. She hesitated, then went to the door and locked it, sliding the key under the door. Satisfied that she was safe, she breathed out heavily in a sigh, sending a small jet of flames along the corridor. She looked up, and saw a shadow making its way along the corridor. Her breath was held immediately, as it breathing would somehow make her visible to whatever was coming.

Will this never end? she thought, as she conjured a fireball between her palms.

Jake knocked on the door of the tree house, and it swung open – as was normal for them. He walked in, and found BMO on the floor by the couch. He was covered in cobwebs, and clearly had not been on for a while. Jake ran over, throwing his bag to the floor as he did so, repeating BMO's name. There was a flash of light from BMO's screen, and the familiar face of the robot flickered into view.

"J…Jake?" he said. The voice was weak – maybe he hadn't been charged up.

"BMO, what's going on? Where's Finn?" Jake asked, unable to keep the anxiety out of his voice.

"He left to see Flame Princess before you left. He hasn't come back yet."

Jake looked worried for a while, then grinned.

"Ah, so little ol' Finn has decided to take things to the next level." Jake scratched his chin thoughtfully. "Ha, well I wish he'd tell me these things before he does them, but its time he grew up anyway. So, you want to play Kompy's Castle, BMO?"

"Yay!" BMO replied enthusiastically.

The fireball hovered in the air, shaking slightly. The shadow grew larger with the added light, and appeared to be advancing towards her. The shadow grew closer, until it was less than a foot in front of her. Then it stopped. Flame Princess shot the fireball at the shadow, missing it by just inches. The shadow gasped, and came into view. Flame Princess recognised the 'shadow' now – it was Marceline, the Vampire Queen.

"What gives, FP? You don't shoot at a queen!" Marceline said, slightly sarcastically.

"Sorry, Marceline – you took me by surprise. I've kinda been on edge for a while."

Marceline laughed. "Since when did the princess of flames lose her fire?" Flame Princess laughed along with her – after all, she was only teasing. They had only met once, and she had seemed nice enough – but Finn warned her than she could easily get angry if provoked; she guessed that the Vampire Queen needed to seem tough to her subjects.

"So, why are you here, FP?" Marceline asked.

"Bubblegum's lab was on fire."

"So, you – made of fire – came to the scene OF a fire to what – put it out? Yeah, THAT makes sense."

Marceline floated over to the lab door, and was about to open it when Flame Princess blocked the doorway.

"Hey squirt, get out of the way." she said, in a tone that wasn't threatening – more one of annoyance. Flame Princess took a breath, and said "No."

"What." Marceline said, the red starting to enter her eyes.

"I said, no." Flame Princess said, attempting to seem threatening to the vampire.

"I. need. to. see. her."

"YOU CAN'T!"

At this, Marceline began to transform into her monster-bat form, screeching as she did. She batted Flame Princess away, and burst through the door. She saw Princess Bubblegum on the floor, unconscious, a pool of red liquid next to her. Looking back onto the scene, Flame Princess admitted it didn't look very promising. Marceline spun round, and picked Flame Princess up by the throat, not caring that she herself was getting burned.

"WHAT DID YOU DO?" she yelled, and Flame Princess struggled to get free.

"I did nothing!"

"I can SEE you did something!"

At this point, Princess Bubblegum woke up. She was confused at first, then remembered the events that took place. She smiled – thinking that Flame Princess would be leaving for the ice wall. Then she looked up, and saw a huge bat-Marceline gripping Flame Princess, and flames engulfing the arm holding her. She felt weak, but she couldn't let the two people that could save Ooo kill each other.

"Stop!" she said, in a loud but feeble voice.

Marceline dropped the girl, and became her normal self. She ran over, and grabbed Princess Bubblegum by the shoulders, helping her up.

"Peebles, you ok? What did she do to you?"

"Yeah, I'm fine now." she replied hoarsely. "Flame Princess was only defending herself. Please, let her go."

Marceline turned, but Flame Princess had already left, leaving a streak of fames behind her. Marceline turned back to the Princess.

"I'm sorry, PB, but I need to tell you something – and you may want to sit down for it."

Back at the tree house, Jake had just finished a long session of Kompy's Castle. Even though he had to play on single mode rather than co-op mode. He sighed, and got up to get some ice-cream. Maybe he should go and check to see if Finn was ok – after all, moving in with someone is a big step. He scooped some ice-cream into a bowl, and took a big bite. The cold of the dessert shot pain through his sensitive teeth – it seemed that the medicine PB had given him had worn off. He sighed again – looked like he would need to go to the candy kingdom to get some more.


	9. Update

**17th August 2013**

Hey everyone!

If you were expecting an update chapter-wise soon, then i'm really sorry! I have decided to take a break from this fanfiction for a few months, and I will come back to it at some point. The reason for this is purely that I don't like the direction that the story is going in, and I feel that the story just isn't as good as it was when I started it. So when I return to this fanfiction, it will be with new ideas, and hopefully a better writing style that suits what is going on. Also I need some time to get over Finn and Flame Princess' break-up (the feels...I just can't...).

In the meantime, I will be updating on my other fanfiction, called "Rising Bubbles" and it is about Princess Bubblegum's childhood (because there is a lot of scope since we are not told much from the show about this particular topic). That's also another reason - I feel I could concentrate better on this one and possibly update more often on it.

So, look out for updates on 'Rising Bubbles', and I will tell you on this new fanfiction when I am ready to continue 'Looking through the Ice'.

Adventure on for life!

Wolfie de Santis Jr. (Wolfie-V)


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